Drum Corps Love
by DCISnareDrummer
Summary: When two best friends and fellow drummers Andrew and Amanda go to audition for the DCI World Champion Phantom Regiment Drum and Bugle Corps, no one knew, not even themseleves what would happen to them that year.
1. Prologue

**Drum Corps Love**

"Flight 383 to Rockford, Illinois now boarding at gate 25" said the voice over the loud speaker. "This is it" thought Andrew, "I'm really going". He looked at Amanda who was sitting next to him as they stood up and began to head for the gate. Both of them were both going for the same reason.

When they had first entered high school 4 years earlier, besides academics there was one thing they loved above all, marching band. They loved the long after school rehearsals and the hard work and dedication it took to put a championship field show out on the field and the feel of competition, warming in the lot before shows, marching on to the field and playing through the onfield warmup while hyping themselves up as well as the sudden adrenaline rush they got when they heard "Oak Ridge High School, you may take the field for competition" break the silence of the night as well as the immense joy of coming off the field after a great show and snapping to attention at retreat when their placement was called. As percussionists they both knew it very well after the days of long rehearsals, intense sectionals and tough marching blocks in the summer heat of band camp as well as the in the fall and winter all while carrying drums. Amanda had become a proficient bass drummer and Andrew, none the less became a great snare drummer and both had become immersed in the art of marching percussion. They even thought how they would get on without it after high school until one day their caption head, Joe Marconi while addressing the drumline as freshmen said "this summer, we are going to take a trip and see the DCI show at Giants Stadium" The two looked at each other as if to say, "what is DCI?" when Marconi explained that DCI which stood for Drum Corps International was like the major leagues of marching band except the bands were drum and bugle corps with just brass, percussion and colorguard and that the performers were all high school and college kids who were the best at what they did. Excited, Andrew and Amanda attended their first drum corps show together and had a blast, they loved every corps however there was one that stuck out to them, they remembered the all white uniform, the crisp marching, the rich sounding brass line, and more importantly to them, the most incredible drumline they had ever seen, when they were leaving that night, they were so amazed that they said to each other during the bus ride back to school, one day, we'll be out there with them. The corps the remembered most had a name that stood out to them, Phantom Regiment, and from that day on, their ultimate goal was to one day take the field as members of Phantom Regiment's drumline. Now graduated from high school and freshman at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst where they studied with Thom Hannum, the DCI legend of the 80s and 90s as members of the UMass snare and basslines and also with a year of DCI experience under their belts in a Division II corps, they had a chance to fulfill their dreams.


	2. Audition Camp

**Chapter 2-Audition Camp**

The two hurried to the gate to catch their flight each holding on to their carry-on bags for dear life as if they were holding the crown jewels, at least in their case, their own crown jewels. Within their carry-ons were their bread and butter, their audition music, registration forms and everything they would need for their auditions as well as a pair of their favorite and supposedly lucky sticks. After clearing the boarding gate they both walked to the plane and took their seats next to each other. After what seemed like forever, they were on their way to Rockford. The two spoke but said very little and spent most of the time looking at their music and making sure they had all the material ready. Eventually Amanda asked Andrew who was reviewing the triplet rolls exercise, "What do you think it will be like, the audition, will it be scary?" Andrew responded by saying, I don't know, but we are about to find out, aren't we Mandy?" "Yea true" Amanda replied. After a two hour flight that seemed like forever, they landed in Rockford at its airport and were soon picking up their luggage at the baggage claim area, their luggage included everything they needed for camp, sleeping bags for the gym floor they would sleep on at night, extra sticks and mallets and practice pads. After securing their baggage, they walked off to the pickup area where soon they noticed signs for transportation to the Phantom Regiment audition camp.

"There it is" said Andrew, "let's go". The two walked towards the sign and soon enough came up to a man standing near the sign who worked for the corps as a volunteer. The man introduced himself as Jerry Halloran, and said he was on support staff with the corps as a driver and drove the busses the corps traveled on during the season and explained that he would be driving them to audition camp, more people eventually shoed up, some holding stick bags and mallet bags, others holding brass instruments, some others were holding flag bags with guard equipment and soon enough Mr. Halloran began to lead them out to the bus.

Andrew and Amanda after stowing their stuff beneath the bus climbed aboard the bus and took seats next to each other. A few minutes later they were on the road traveling to the school where the auditions were. Along the way they smiled at each other and both asked each other, "can you believe were really here?"

Both were excited as they pulled up the high school where the camp was taking place. They couldn't wait to get off the bus and into the camp. When the bus stopped they hurriedly got off and got their stuff and then made their way inside as fast as their feet could carry them. They first stopped at a table in the lobby where they handed in their registration forms, after that they headed to the gym to drop off their luggage and then within an hour, the entire corps from last year minus ageouts and prospective members were asked to gather in the auditorium of the school for orientation. Together they casually walked into the auditorium and found two seats together; they sat down and talked each clutching their audition music and exercise packets. Amanda spoke first and asked Andrew "are you excited?" to which Andrew responded, "I'm nervous but excited as well, I hope I'm good enough." "You are" Amanda replied and Andrew, moved by this statement she made gave her a pat on the back and she did the same to him and he replied by saying that she was sure to make the bassline. Amanda responded by saying that she certainly hoped so when suddenly a group of men and women stepped up on to the stage and the room that had about 400 people in it suddenly fell still and silent. One man stepped forward from the group and said, excitedly "good evening Phantom Regiment" to which a large group of people responded back by saying good evening back. He continued by saying, "for those of you who don't know me, my name is Rick Valenzuela and I am the executive the director of Phantom Regiment and I would like to welcome you all to auditions for the 2007 season, were really glad your here and excited to seeing and hearing all of you perform to the best of your abilities. We're really excited by the great turnout here tonight, unfortunately, we can not take all of you but whether you make it or not, we know you will learn a lot. He continued to talk and the auditorium listened when finally he announced, and now, it is time to announce our 2007 Program and to do it, let me introduce to you our Program Coordinator for 2007, Mr. Dan Farrell. Mr. Farrell stepped forward to a generous applause and soon the crowd hushed for the big news, Andrew and Amanda leaned forward a little to hear better in the hopes that the announcement of the program would boost their motivation to make it. The announcement hit Andrew and Amanda as if it was fired from a cannon, "our 2007 program is called On Air and features the pieces Vespertine Formations by Christopher Deane, 1000 Airplanes on the Roof by Phillip Glass, Flower Duet from _Lakme_ by Leo Delibes, Suggestion Diaboliques by Prfokiev and Stravinsky's Firebird. Andrew and Amanda liked what they heard and liked even more the music that was played throughout the auditorium for them. At the end of Firebird, they got so excited that they couldn't wait to start rehearsal. A few minutes later, the moment finally came when all in attendance were dismissed for sectional rehearsal.

Andrew and Amanda walked together to rehearsal each holding sticks and pads in their hands along with their music, they entered the cafeteria along with the rest of the percussionists, both veterans and rookies alike and were greeted by the percussion staff led by longtime Caption Head Paul Rennick. Andrew and Amanda took seats together at a table with a bunch of other drummers, a few of them veterans, and introduced themselves to everyone sitting with them. They had just gotten down to talking when Paul Rennick raised his hand and brought the room to quiet. He opened his mouth and said, "Alright, my name is Paul Rennick and I am the percussion caption head for Phantom Regiment, welcome to auditions, now obviously as you can see, there are more of you than there are spots open so we can only take so many of you and it will be very competitive but we guarantee you, whether you make it or not you will learn a lot from this experience, let me introduce to you our percussion staff for 2007," Rennick then went on to introduce each member of the instructional staff for the drumline and as each one's name was announced applause was given and Andrew and Amanda clapped especially for the snare and bass techs. Following the intro, it was the moment they had been waiting for, it was time to drum. Andrew and Amanda then walked over to their respective sections and set up and got ready to play. Andrew stood behind a shiny snare drum and got ready to play and Amanda did the same choosing the first bass drum in the line. When everyone was ready, Rennick said, "Alright, first exercise will be Legatos, remember, good full strokes and solid even beats. Set!" He then walked over to the snare line and began to tap it off. Andrew and Amanda held their sticks tightly and on count 3 of the second measure of the tap off, they sharply brought their sticks out as did the rest of the line and soon after that the room came to life with the sound of drums. It continued through the night and each time with a different exercise. At the end of the night, the corps went for a snack before bed and that was where Andrew and Amanda found each other. He asked her "so what do you think, do you think you have a chance?" "I don't think it's that bad" she said, "I think I have a chance. How is it for you?" she asked. "Not bad" said Andrew, "I think I have a shot at this drumline but we'll see at the end of the weekend." "Yea" she replied, "we'll soon find out"

Following snack the corps went to bed for the night and as Andrew and Amanda fell asleep in the gym that night; they realized that tomorrow was their big day. Tomorrow were their solo auditions, both for music and marching. As they fell they wondered if they would do well, they knew they were prepared.

They woke up the next morning ready for what seemed like a long day, it started off with sectionals and then their marching and playing auditions. As the drummers started through their warm-ups, Andrew and Amanda concentrated on one thing, their performances at auditions making sure to nail everything involved in making the line.

Andrew and Amanda found each other after rehearsal and stood together waiting for their turn to audition. "Well, this is it" said Amanda, "Our moment is now, are you ready?" "I think so," replied Andrew, "I think I'll do well."

Andrew walked into the room and sitting there was at a table near the front was Paul Rennick and the two snare techs, a single snare drum was placed on a stand in front of the table. Andrew walked forward to the drum and made sure the height was good for him and then got ready to play and quickly warmed up with an 8 on a hand. Mr. Rennick then asked him, alright Andrew, play our legatos for me. With that Andrew was given 8 counts and was playing and it continued for every exercise. Andrew was then asked to play a prepared solo, "My moment to shine" he thought, and he did totally acing his solo landing every note, attack and stroke there was in it. Rennick looked impressed at the end and then said, "Alright Mr. Hoffberg, relax." "You did very well, I was very impressed with you and I feel that if you keep up with your good attitude throughout the rest of the day and keep playing the way you played, there will be a spot waiting for you in this drumline, because you just showed me you've earned it, I'm gonna give you a 1.5, congratulations!!! Nail your marching audition and your as good as in so best of luck to you." "YES!!" Andrew said to himself before saying to Rennick, "thank you so much Mr. Rennick" and Mr. Rennick acknowledged him and sent him out with a message for the next man in.

Andrew and Amanda found each other at lunch and asked each other how they did. When Andrew said 1.5, Amanda with a shocked look on her face said, "OH MY GOD! ME TOO!!!" The two jumped into each other's arms as Amanda exclaimed "Oh man, we really have a shot of marching here, all we have to do is nail our marching auditions and we're in, "yea Amanda, this is awesome" replied Andrew as they walked through the local mall trying to find a place to eat.

After lunch it was on to marching auditions, done in groups of five people each. Amanda entered the gym of the school with her game face on ready, she watched Andrew from a distance go through his audition, he looked pretty confident and that gave her confidence as she watched him march throughout the gym at speeds of 180 beats a minute and looking like he was totally mastering his crab stepping technique. "Wow" she thought, "He's gonna make it, if he makes, I will make it too, I just have to be confident!"  
With that thought, a member of the visual staff finally came forward and said, 'Alright, next 5 step forward." Though she didn't notice, sitting atop the bleachers a few feet away were the drill designer Jamey Thompson and visual caption head Jay Emmert. Normally, she'd go crazy for drum corps personalities like that, but for now she was too far focused to think of who was watching her. The visual tech called her to set, and with that she held her mallets out as if she was wearing her drum. The tech then said, first drill will be forward 8, back 8. With that the drill down began and Amanda put herself and her body to the test as she marched back and fourth, left and right across the gym sometime imagining herself doing drill while not loosing focus. After what seemed like forever, it was over. Amanda was tired but pleased and thought she did well. As she went to get water, she realized Andrew was waiting for her. Andrew immediately made his way up to her and said "hey, I watched you, you looked great and marched well" "thanks, replied Amanda, "you looked great too, and marched really well, you looked really confident" "Thanks!" said Andrew, "I hope we both did well," "yea, me too", said Amanda.

After a long day and even longer night, the last day of auditions came, the corps went through its normal routines as more people auditioned and then finally, the audition and critique sheets were handed back with their overall scores, Amanda and Andrew both got them and unfolded them together.

After glancing at them, the two of them suddenly smiled at each other and grabbed each other in their arms. "Oh my God!!!!" said Amanda, "We made it!!! Both of us!!!" "Tell me I'm dreaming" said Andrew. "What bass did you get?" he then asked, she said "I got bass 1!!! I'm so happy." "Sweet!!!" said Andrew. With that, the two of them had accomplished their reason for being there; they were members of Phantom Regiment. Andrew- a snare drummer and Amanda-top bass.


	3. January Camp

Chapter 3- January Camp

"Flight 524 to Rockford, now boarding at Gate 25" said the airport loud speaker, "alright Andrew, that's us" said Amanda to which Andrew responded with a lets go do this. They quickly made it to the plane and found their seats for their flight. As soon as they were seated they pulled out their music, however it wasn't audition music anymore, it was the opener of the show and when they realized that it was show music they were looking at, they put their arms around each other and Andrew said, "Amanda, this is for real, we're really members of Phantom's drumline and we are really on our way to our first real camp!" "We are" replied Amanda, "I'm so excited, we're gonna kick so much ass!" "We are Amanda" replied Andrew who then asked "Who rocks?" to which Amanda responded by saying "We do!" They then began to review their music which they had each practiced in their dorm rooms at UMass and together when there was time. They had even studied it with Thom Hannum when possible and their private teachers at the school. "Alright, let's take a look at this opener, we can't drum here but we can look and sing the rhythms." Amanda acknowledged and then the two went off into looking at their music. "These parts are really cool, they have a lot of juice in them" said Andrew examining the snare part, "Yea, these bass splits are awesome and so musical, did you hear the recording that Rennick sent us in his email?" "Yea" said Andrew replying to Amanda's question "his writing is so musical, its so cool how he has all these really cool parts that go so well with the brass, I can't wait to hear us play these with the line." "Yea me too" said Amanda who then asked, "what do you think we'll do tonight since it's our first camp?" "Hmm" said Andrew thinking, "We'll probably have a quick meeting with Mr. Valenzuela and then after that we'll break into sections, we'll probably warm up as a line but then go off with our techs into sub-sectionals and learn the opener with our sections snare, tenors, bass." "Yeah, probably, that sounds like what we'll probably do for the night and then tomorrow more of the same and then we'll probably do some marching and learn some visual technique. That'll probably be the only time we wear the drums, we'll probably have them on stands for most of camp, "Yea" replied Andrew.

After a two hour flight from the airport in Massachusetts, the two of them landed in Rockford and before long, they were checking out their luggage at the baggage claim area. They then walked to the pickup area where once again, Jerry Halloran was waiting for them. Soon after some more people arrived for camp and before long, Amanda and Andrew were in their seats next to each other on the bus on their way to Winnebago High School in Winnebago, Illinois: a town 30 miles from Rockford. During the bus ride which lasted about 45 minutes, Amanda and Andrew excitedly looked at their music and each other.

As soon as the bus had pulled into Winnebago High School, Amanda and Andrew leaped out of their seats and got their stuff out from under the bus. They then walked in and made their way to registration and paid their dues for the camp weekend. They then made their way to the auditorium for the corps meeting and found two seats together in the center section. When they sat down, Andrew and Amanda looked around and realized that the people coming into the room were their fellow members and that these people were the drum corps and that for the next several months, these people were their family for the that time especially in the summer while on tour. They had just gotten into that thought when suddenly Rick Valenzuela and the board of directors came forward to the stage and the room went quiet. He smiled and then said "Good Evening Phantom Regiment!" Andrew and Amanda along with the rest of the room all yelled "Good Evening" back excitedly. Rick continued, "Welcome to the first official camp of the season! For the new members: congratulations and welcome to your first camp as members of the corps, for vets: welcome back to another season here, we're really excited about this season." He continued, "Tonight, will be a music emphasis night, you will be working with your sections and learning the music that was sent to you over December, we will be relaxed but at the same time focused, we have a big job ahead of us and our staff here is committed to making sure that you are the best prepared and ready for the season. Anyway, without further delay, lets get to it, horn line is in the gym, battery is here in the auditorium and front ensemble is in the cafeteria, have a great camp everyone and we'll see you at snack after rehearsal." With that everyone started to split up and Andrew and Amanda got up and suddenly heard someone yell for the drummers to come forward to the stage.

When all the drum line had assembled, the staff invited everyone on to the stage and told them to sit down on the floor. When everyone was seated, Paul Rennick came forward and said, "alright everyone, welcome to our first camp of the season, you all look excited to get started, if you've forgotten I'm Paul Rennick and I am your caption head and I will reintroduce the staff for you." He then went on to introduce each member of the staff. When he was finished he continued by saying, "here is our schedule for the night: when were done here, we are going to go to the truck and unload the drums with stands and carriers. We will set up here on stage and we will warm up as a line. We'll do that for about 30 to 45 minutes and we'll go over the exercise packet. After that, we are going to split into sections and learn this opener, locations for sectionals will be determined by your techs. We'll stay in sectionals for most of the night and then we will come back together and take it with the full line before snack. That's pretty much it." He paused for a second and then continued, "before we go, lets get to know each other a little bit, lets go around, everyone introduce themselves, say where your from, where you go to school, your section and anything else you want us to know about you. We're all on the same team here so let's get to know our teammates in this." One by one, each member of the drum line introduced themselves, pretty much all of them were college aged and most hailed from the Midwest or the South and most were music majors at their schools, a few of them were vets and some of the rookies had previous marching experience. When it came time for Andrew to speak, he spoke confidently and said, "Hi I'm Andrew Hoffberg, I'm from Oak Ridge, New York and I'm on the snare line. I'm currently a freshman political science and percussion performance double major at UMass Amherst. I play snare on the UMass Drumline and this is my second year in the drum corps activity, last year I marched snare with Jersey Surf." Following that it was Amanda's turn to speak and in a clear voice she said, "Hey everyone, I'm Amanda Weisman and I'm Bass 1, I go to school with Andrew and I am a freshman music education major at UMass Amherst. I am top bass on the UMass Drumline and I also marched Jersey Surf last year as top bass." This continued with everyone and soon enough everyone was walking outside to unload the truck.

Out at the truck, Amanda and Andrew had some time to meet their fellow drumline members. Andrew went over to one kid named Chris Rogers, a kid from Ohio who now was a freshman at the University of Illinois who he remembered from auditions; Chris had also made the snareline so Andrew immediately went up to him and said "hey bro, congrats!" "Thanks man, you too" said Chris in return who subsequently asked, "How did you make out with the opener?" "Not that bad," replied Andrew "however there are some phrases in there that are just killing me, little musical things." "Yea" replied Chris, "Like that one phrase at measure 29 where we have those crazy rolls, that was nuts" Amanda also did a little socializing of her own as she said hello to her fellow bass drummers including her bass 2 Matt. Matt was a veteran of the corps and a native of Texas who had marched the 06 line and was a DCI percussion champion. She shook his hand and said, "Hi, I'm Amanda and I'm going to be bass 1 this year, nice to meet you Matt. "Nice to meet you too, looking forward to marching with you" "thanks said Amanda. They talked about the music for a few minutes and then Amanda went back to join Andrew as the first drums were being removed from the truck. Amanda then said to Andrew, "this is so awesome! Can you believe were here?" "Yeah" said Andrew, "This drumline is so awesome, can't wait to start playing in a few!"

The drums one by one were unloaded and handed to their players. Soon enough Andrew was handed his drum, a very well maintained Pearl 14 x 12 FFX marching snare with what seemed to be a brand new Remo Black Max head on it. He was also given a carrier and stand along with the drum, he watched as Amanda was handed her drum, an 18" Pearl marching bass along with a carrier and stand. He then put his drum on and so did Amanda and together they walked back into the school with looks of extreme satisfaction on their faces. "What do you think?" asked Andrew as they walked to the auditorium. "This is awesome!" said Amanda "I already love my drum, these carriers are awesome and already really comfy, imagine how comfy they'll be when we adjust them to our bodies and this drum probably sounds so awesome, can't wait to play it along with this kick ass bass drum line." "Yeah, me too with the snares" said Andrew.

The drumline set up in the auditorium on the stage in a big arc. There were 9 snares, 5 tenors and 5 basses. They placed their carriers on the floor and then set up their drums on stands. Andrew after adjusting his stand went over and helped Amanda adjust hers and made sure her drum was level for her to play. When everyone was set up, Rennick and his staff walked back in and called for everyone to get behind there drums. At this moment, Andrew and Amanda got excited as it was finally the moment they had been waiting for, they were going to drum with the most awesome drumline they would ever be on. "Alright" said the snare tech, "lets begin with Legatos, remember good solid attack, even strokes and good technique, here we go. Set!" The drumline immediately came to attention, and the large room fell silent. The silence was then suddenly broken by the shrieking click of the Dr. Beat which clicked out 130 beats per minute. Then Rennick pointed at the center snare who was clicking his sticks together with the 8th note subdivision. He then began to tap it off and 8 counts later the drumline came alive. Andrew made sure that he nailed the opening attack and focused but at the same time the thought came to him that he was living his dream. Amanda felt the same as she dove into the first part of the exercise. The line did four reps of the exercise before the tempo was sped up, this time to 170 bpms. The center snare tapped it off and the drumline came back in but on the first stroke, the snare tech cut it off and said, "Come on, don't blow the attack." He then pointed back to the center snare and he tapped it off again, 8 counts later the line was back in action. After four more reps and another tempo change, the exercise sequence for legatos finished and the line clicked their sticks in. After a few seconds of standing at attention, the snare tech then said "relax" and the line came out of attention and shook out their hands. The exercise sequence continued and the line played through the entire packet. After about an hour the line was done warming up and Rennick came back to the stage and said, "alright, its time to learn the opener, you guys ready?" "YEAH!!!" yelled the line. "Excellent" said Rennick, "everyone go with your techs bring your stands and music with you." With that the drumline packed up and began to leave by section.

After packing up, the snare line followed their tech, a man named Jeff Hassan who appeared to be in his early 30s out of the auditorium and down the hall to a classroom. From what Andrew remembered of his bio, Jeff Hassan was a DCI World Champion who had marched with Phantom when it won its only championship in 1996 as well as an I&E snare champion. They entered the classroom and Jeff told them to set up their drums in a circle which the snare line did quickly. Following that they each went to the band room down the hall and got music stands and before long were back and ready to drum. "Alright" said Jeff, "if you've forgotten, I'm Jeff and I'm your snare tech and your other snare tech who will be here in a second is Jeremy Noyes, I'm really looking forward to working with you guys, you have a lot of energy, lets put that into this book. So let's get straight to it. Look at our first entrance at measure 18 and the first phrase up to measure 30 where we have that long rest. Watch those single strokes in measure 21 into 22 and make sure when you play them to use mainly fingers with a tiny bit of wrist but mainly use fingers for those. For shots we use pings here at Phantom so be sure to mark that in your music, hopefully you all brought pencils with you. "Alright let's go and see how we do, let's see how ready you guys are." With that he set the tempo by clicking his sticks together at 184 beats per minute and then he signaled to the center snare and he tapped it off. 8 Counts later the snare line was playing and though it wasn't the cleanest, it was sounding pretty good for a first time Andrew thought as the snare tech looped the phrase several times.

Meanwhile Amanda and the bass line were getting settled into their sectional as well. The bass techs Mike Hodges and Al Dunn started breaking down each measure and the five bass drummers listened intently as they heard all the details of each phrase they would play. Amanda listened especially as Mike talked about the technique, "remember your hand position, we want to knock on the door with our hands, not turn a doorknob, ok, just a solid turn of the wrist, even on phrases where we have 32nds and sixtuples, simple turn of the wrist, lets look now at measures 34 and 35. Bass one has the 8th note diddles for 2 counts and then we have a 16th note run starting on count 3, 3 e and a 4 e and a 1" he said as he pointed to where each bass drummer came in. "We then have the sixtuples on beats 1 and 2 with basses 1 and 2." Here we go." Matt the bass 2 tapped it off on his drum and soon after, the bass line came alive.

Sectionals continued for the rest of the night until about 10 o'clock when the line came back together in the auditorium to play together for the first time. Andrew and Amanda as they set up asked each other how sectionals went and both showed immense signs of satisfaction with their sections. A few minutes later the drum line was alive again playing the book and as this happened, Andrew and Amanda realized hat it was really them playing with the drumline. An hour later time had run out and it was time for snack.

The drumline left the auditorium as a group and headed to snack. Amanda caught up with Andrew as they walked and said, "Oh my God!!! That was awesome!!!" "Yea it was" said Andrew, "we have cleaning to do but we're gonna be awesome and the staff is so good, I've learned so much in one night" "yea me too," said Amanda. As they walked they mingled with the rest of the drumline, Andrew mainly talked with Chris and Amanda with Matt and discussion was mainly about the music. Eventually they came close enough to hear the hornline playing, or at least part of it but not just any part of it, it was the famous baritone line, "the Buicks" as they were called in Phantom Regiment circles for the sound they created. As they heard the incredible sound, Amanda and Andrew smiled at each other as further realization of their dream set in.

After snack, the corps went to sleep and before long the next morning came. The corps was awoken by the horn sergeant who yelled out "GOOD MORNING PHANTOM REGIMENT" The corps reluctantly but surely woke up from their sleeping bags and got ready for the day. After breakfast, the corps went back to rehearsal. Like normal, the drumline met in the auditorium and Paul Rennick and the staff started the day by introducing the day's schedule, Amanda and Andrew sat next to each other and listened closely. The morning block would include more sectional work and working together as a line. Lunch would come at 12 and then after the lunch hour they would have a two hour marching block that would cover all the basic marching technique needed for the season. Rennick went into much detail on that and he said that they would be tired by the end of it. Following that, they would go back into sectional which would take them to dinner and then finally ensemble work with the pit which would complete the day. He also said that the goal for the day was to finish the opener musically and clean it in time for the full corps ensemble session Sunday afternoon to which everyone nodded in approval of that goal. Following the meeting, the line went off to sectionals and started where they had left off Saturday night. After quick warm-up sessions, each section attacked the book and by the end of the morning block had finished the opener musically. Lunch soon came after and Andrew and Amanda with the rest of the drumline to eat. After getting their lunch from the food truck outside, they found a table to sit at and began to eat. While they ate Andrew struck up a conversation as Amanda sat down next to him. "What do you think of the book this year?" Asked Andrew, across from him, a veteran snare drummer named Mike answered first by saying, "I like it, it's a little different from last year but musical as always." "Yeah!" said Amanda " as a rookie in the corps this year, I can't say much about last year's book or really nothing at all but, I can say I really like this book, it's the most musical book I have ever played. It's a lot better than the book Andrew and I played at Jersey Surf last year." "Yea, definitely" said Andrew "the book is really nicely done." Jeff the center snare then chimed in and said "yea, to agree with Mike, this book is a little different, a little more sensitive, last year it was more aggressive, remember this lick from last year?" He then proceeded to play the famous drumline throw down from the 2006 show and when he finished, he received some applause from everyone at the table. He then spoke and said "see how aggressive that is, I know Paul will definitely throw some of that in later in the show but our opener starts a little differently this year. Like last year, we started with those buzz rolls, this year we start a little mellower, still good. "Yea" replied everyone.

After lunch the drumline proceeded to the small gym of the school for marching, all of them came wearing their drums. When they entered the gym, the visual staff came over and started to explain the technique. They were then placed in a block formation and the first drill was called, forward 8 back 8. The visual tech then pulled out a gock block and began to tap the tempo. The line was given 8 counts and before long was doing the drill. They repeated it 3 more times before the tech sped up the tempo and the drill went again. Eventually the line was told to relax. Then they changed it up and went with different step sizes and started to incorporate the crab step and other steps used in their visual program. It only got harder and harder and eventually it started to take its toll on the drumline and they grew tired especially after the fast tempo drill.

Two hours later it was over, and the drumline relished the opportunity to go back to sectional and put the drums back on stands, they got back into the auditorium and got ready to drum but before they did Rennick had a few words about the marching block. "Alright, the drum staff and I watched the marching block and saw you guys got pretty tired easily, if you think that block was hard, its only gonna get harder and imagine how hard it will be when you have your drum on and were on tour this summer somewhere in the South where its gonna be very hot, imagine how tired you'll be there so your best bet if you were really winded from that block is to get in shape and start training for the summer, go to the gym sometimes, work on your core muscles, do abs work if you have to because blocks are only gonna get harder and in March, get ready, because were going to go to an indoor stadium and are going to start learning drill and it will not be easy, so take all this into consideration. Okay, let's drum." The drumline soon after went back to work and began the challenging process of cleaning the opener and measure by measure, they worked on cleaning every last detail. This was the toughest music rehearsal of the day by far as it really tended to go deep into the chops of every player. "At least were not wearing the drums" thought Andrew as the tiresome rehearsal dragged on. Eventually the line started to come together and phrases became much cleaner. The drum staff eventually became pleased with the process as well.

Eventually it was over and it was time for dinner, the drumline left the auditorium and made their way to the food truck. Amanda and Andrew again walked together and were again very excited about the night ahead of them. "We're getting really good!" said Amanda excitedly, "Yeah definitely, we were having some moments of brilliance in there" said Andrew, to which Amanda responded "yeah, it was sweet!"

At dinner, the drumline all sat together at two tables and Amanda and Andrew again sat next to each other. During the meal, the conversation was about everything from the music to college and all the time Andrew and Amanda enjoyed the conversation with their fellow members. At one point and Andrew and Chris had gotten up to go the truck to get dessert when Chris suddenly asked him, "Hey man, I noticed you and Amanda are close, are you guys together like boyfriend and girlfriend?" "Not really" replied Andrew, "We are very close and we are together a lot so we sort of are together but officially we aren't boyfriend and girlfriend, we are best friends however." "Oh okay," said Chris, "Maybe tour will make you boyfriend and girlfriend, are you guys gonna be bus partners this summer?" "Yeah definitely" answered Andrew. "Yeah," said Chris, "you'll definitely be together by the end of tour." "We'll see" said Andrew.

After dinner the drumline relocated from the auditorium to the Cafeteria where they set up in an arc behind the front ensemble who were already set up. Paul Rennick and his wife Sandi who was the front ensemble's arranger/lead instructor sat at a table in front of all of them. When everyone was set up, Paul called out the chunk of music he wanted them to play and then turned on the Dr. Beat. The center snare tapped off and for the first time, two sections combined and the opener chugged along well. After several chunks, it was time to play the opener all the way through. The drumline and pit together prepared themselves for their first run-through. The Doctor Beat was then set and turned on and the center snare tapped off. The pit started playing first during the opening statement and then the battery came in nailing the attack and playing the book aggressively. Three minutes later it was over and the staff's applause broke the sound of the dying crash cymbals and gongs. "Battery relax" said Rennick. "Good job guys and girls, your opener is complete, obviously we have cleaning to do but this is a great start, be proud of yourselves. We've finished just in time for snack. Get a good nights' sleep tonight, we're gonna need everything for tomorrow, we will have more sectional time, some ensemble time, battery you will be doing some more marching tomorrow and then at the end of the day, we will be working the opener with the brass so get ready. Good job tonight."

After snack the corps went to bed for the night and was awoken again the next morning with the same resulting cry, "GOOD MORNING PHANTOM REGIMENT". The corps awoke and had breakfast. After breakfast, the corps went back into sectionals however the drum staff chose to keep the battery together and work as a full line. The full line was again set up in the auditorium on the stage and the staff sat in the first row of seats. The line went through its warmup routine and then started working on the book again. This took them to lunch. After lunch and another strenuous marching block, the line went back to the auditorium and played a little more. At about 2 o'clock, Rennick said, "Alright, we're going over to play with the brass, be quiet as you enter the gym, their still in rehearsal. " The line packed up and headed for the main gym. When they entered the hornline was still in rehearsal. The drumline set up in the middle of the horn arc and were closest to the tuba and mellophone lines of the brassline, Andrew then looked around counted 73 horns, by far the biggest hornline he had ever played with. Once the drumline and pit had set up, the brass arranger J.D. Shaw then announced the opener, "alright, beginning to measure 60" he yelled and the drum major climbed atop the podium and then yelled "set". The brass and percussion snapped to attention and then the drum major counted off. The corps began the intro and Andrew and Amanda carefully counted the tacets. When it came time to play the snareline excitedly yelled out the four final counts before the entrance with four loud duts and then attacked well on their first entrance as the first big hit of the show came together. After one more rep, another chunk was added and then finally, it was time to play the entire opener through. The corps came to attention and then drum major counted off. The corps started and never stopped, the drumline attacked nicely and took command of the opener and a few minutes later it was over and the only sound that could be heard was the dying sound of cymbals and gongs. The corps then relaxed and listened as Rick Valenzuela wrapped up the camp weekend. "Great job this weekend Phantom, you really had an excellent camp, we got a lot done and we're really excited about this season. Keep going, only good things will happen this summer if you continue like this." He then turned to the drum major and said, "Drum Major, dismiss the corps." The drum major then faced the corps and said "corps dismissed, hornline warm down before leaving." With that the drumline began to breakdown the equipment and made their way out of the gym as the hornline had struck up their first warm down chord. Andrew and Amanda found each other at the door of the gym and Amanda said to Andrew, "Oh my God! That was awesome" "Yeah," replied Andrew, "Our dream has come true, we really are members of the most awesome drumline ever" "Most definitely said Amanda."

After loading the truck and saying goodbye, Andrew and Amanda climbed aboard a corps bus and sat next to each other during their bus ride back to the airport. During the bus ride they talked yet for the most part just leaned back in their seats and smiled at each other for the majority of the bus ride. They suddenly realized where they had been and how awesome it was to achieve a goal together.


	4. Drill Camp  1

Chapter 4-Drill Camp # 1

"Flight 561 to Rockford, now boarding at gate 27" said the voice on the loud speaker at the airport. "Here we go, we're off to camp again," said Amanda to Andrew as they stood up to board the plane. Once aboard they settled into their seats next to each other and after that began studying their drill charts for it was their first drill camp and the goal for the camp weekend was to learn the drill for the entire opener. The last February and first March camp were the last of the music camps and by then the corps was done with their entire musical repertoire. Now it was time to put the music on the move and get the showing rolling literally. "Where are you in the opening set?" asked Andrew as he carefully plotted his dots. "I'm right here," said Amanda pointing to her dot on the page, "I'm at the front sideline on the 40 in between those two tubas, where are you?" she then asked. "I'm splitting the 15 and the 20" "Nice, we're all over the field" said Amanda nodding her head in approval. "So?" she asked, "are you ready to learn drill?" "Yeah" replied Andrew, "I'm excited but I'm nervous too, its gonna be real tough and the last thing I want is an angry visual or battery tech getting in my face like a Marine Corps drill instructor." "Yeah, I'm nervous for that too" said Amanda.

After the two hour flight and a 45 minute bus ride from the airport, Amanda and Andrew arrived at Beloit College in Beloit, Wisconsin for camp. Once again Andrew and Amanda did the normal things, paid their dues and said hello to their fellow drumline members who they had not seen since the beginning of the month. Amanda in particular went to talk with her friend Jessica who was a member of the front ensemble; the two had met last camp and had become fast friends, Amanda had learned that Jessica hailed from Virginia and was attending the University of Texas at Arlington where she was studying percussion performance. "Hey Jess, what's up?" asked Amanda as she placed her sleeping bag on the floor of the gym. "I'm awesome and you?" asked Jess as she set up her air mattress on the floor next to Amanda's sleeping bag "I'm good, so, first drill camp for the brass and battery, I'm pretty excited and a little nervous." "Yea" said Jess, "That's sweet, for me it's just another camp with the pit, music, music and more music." They both laughed. "So Amanda" asked Jess as they began to walk out of the gym together, "I noticed you and Andrew the snare drummer hang out together a lot when you're here at camp, are you guys a couple?" Amanda froze for a second before she answered because she knew that Andrew and her had considered themselves best friends and were obviously very close but both of them didn't exactly consider themselves a "couple". She finally found the words to answer the question and said, "Well, we're not exactly a couple but we are very close, he and I went to high school together and we both go to UMass together as well and have been best friends since our high school days, we went to prom together too." "Oh ok," said Jess in response "but I guarantee, you two will be a couple by the end of tour, tour does that to people, you'll see, we all become best friends." "Yea," said Amanda as they passed through the outside doors of the gym and into the courtyard of the school, "It may very well happen, he and I have already agreed to be bus partners this summer during tour" "Oh, then its a given," replied Jess with a light laugh to her voice "you two will be a surefire couple by the end of tour" "We'll see" said Amanda and with that the two girls walked together to the corps meeting talking about everything else from TV and movies to college.

When they entered the performing arts center of the school, Jess and Amanda went to find that the percussion section all seated together in one section, both battery and pit. She also had found that Andrew had saved a seat for her. She went over and sat down next to him and asked him if Jess could join them to which he accepted and Jess took a seat next to Amanda. Five minutes later the board of directors came forward and Rick Valenzuela again addressed the corps. Like always he started by saying good evening Phantom Regiment and was responded to by a loud good evening from the corps. He then started to explain the weekend as one of the most important camp weekends of the season, it was now when the corps would start working drill and putting the moves to the music and it was also when the show would truly begin to come alive. The speech ended quickly after that and after his speech, the corps immediately went off to work. The brass and the battery immediately moved to the field house while the pit went off to sectional. Andrew and Amanda were then went onto the field and sat down in front of the drum major's podium and the caption head's scaffold where they were greeted by the visual designer Jamey Thompson and visual caption head Jay Emmert. Thompson spoke first and explained the goals for the night. The goal was to learn as much of the opener as possible. The whole corps would learn drill together and in order for it all to work they explained, the entire corps would have to work together in order to make sure all the drill was learned. After the discussion ended, the corps members hit the field and plotted their opening drill spots. Andrew charted his and walked to the front sideline on the 40 yard line and then carefully marked his drill spot. About a minute later, Jamey's voice came out loudly over a loud speaker and said, "Alright, everyone find your dot on page two and go there." The corps began walking to their new positions and Andrew and Amanda passed each other along the way and smiled as they walked by eachother. After he found his position, Andrew looked back at his old position to see where he came from and to think of the step size. Soon after the corps was asked to head back to their first set and march their first two counts- a move that lasted 16 counts. Everyone hurried back to their opening set and when the corps was ready, the Dr. Beat was turned on and the corps was given an 8 count count-off from the tower. 8 counts later the corps was marching and as soon as it has started, it was over. The corps repeated the process quickly with each drill set and as more pages were learned, the show began to come together. Amanda considered the music as she marched and thought about what she would be doing musically during each set. She sang her rhythms in unison with the corps who were each singing their horn and drum parts. As each drill set was learned, the show began to come together visually and over the 3 hour block more drill was learned and the staff proudly exclaimed at the end of the block that 1 minute of the show was now on the field. The members of the corps looked at each other in sort of a state of disbelief realizing that all that work was only 1 minute of an 11 minute field program but still, "it was nice to have something and tomorrow there would be more drill, 1 minute down, 10 to go" thought Amanda as she stood next to Andrew in the corps' huddle listening to Jamie and Jay wrap up the drill session.

Following wrap-up, the corps had snack before going to bed. Andrew and Amanda stayed with the drumline and during this time, there was plenty of conversation but for the most part during snack, it was quiet as the corps members were tired from the tough drill block. After snack the corps headed to bed and got ready for the big day they had ahead of them that would start the next morning.

The next morning the corps awoke and had breakfast. After breakfast, the corps went to music rehearsal for the morning block and Andrew and Amanda relished the chance to do some much needed work on the music. Though it was enjoyable, the morning block passed quickly and after lunch the corps went back to learn drill and for the next several hours, the corps would continue the drill learning process. The drill learning continued for the next four hours and each member put their body to the test with the high velocity drill. Amanda thought of herself dressed in the white uniform of the corps and playing her drum as she marched and thought of herself gliding across the field like a figure skater. More and more drill was learned and finally the corps finished the opener and with time to spare. With that the corps began to connect sections of the drill and the show finally began to come together or at least the opener.

Eventually the block ended and the corps came off the field and sat before Jay and Jamie who congratulated the corps on a job well done for finishing the opener. The corps let out a loud cheer with the congratulations yet realized that there was still more work to do. Jay then introduced the rest of the schedule for the evening. The corps would break for dinner for one hour and then after warm-ups, the corps would have their first music on the move session where music and drill would come together. The staff hoped to have enough done for a run through of the opener on Sunday. Jay then said that the toughest work for the corps was ahead and that it would only get tougher as the corps began marching and playing the challenging drill and it would take concentration on the part of every member in order to put the music to the drill. With that the corps was dismissed and began to walk to the food truck for dinner.

Andrew and Amanda found each other at the door to the field house and began to walk to dinner. Along the way, the talk was mostly about what had happened during the day but then Amanda brought up a new subject. "Andrew, I was talking with my friend Jess when we got here yesterday, and she asked if you and I were a couple because she noticed you and I are together a lot. What do you think of that?" "Andrew froze in his mind because he too had never considered his relationship with Amanda to be that of a boyfriend and girlfriend though they were together almost all of the time and were very close. Then he realized that Jess wasn't the only one who had noticed this but Chris, Andrews's best friend on the battery noticed it as well that the two of them were like a couple. He looked for the right words to say to Amanda and finally said "yeah, I've heard that too, a lot of people say that about us." "True" replied Amanda as they continued their walk. Suddenly Amanda and Andrew stopped at a bench and sat down at Amanda's request. Amanda then continued her statement "Andrew, we are very much like a couple, you and I, we are together a lot, we're very close and all but are we really a couple, I've never really considered us a couple, I've always considered us best friends" "Me too" said Andrew, he continued "Chris said that if were not already a couple, we'll definitely be a couple by the end of tour since we know we're gonna be bus partners." "Yeah" said Amanda. Andrew thought of what to say next, the conversation was taking him towards asking her to be his girlfriend; he had in the back of his mind always wanted to have her as his girl, he wondered if she felt the same. "You know Amanda," said Andrew, "I think it might very well happen, we really have the potential to be boyfriend and girlfriend." Amanda froze when she heard this, this was something that she always wanted, to have Andrew as her boyfriend but she never thought of it actually happening. She looked for the words to say and after what seemed like forever to her, she said "Andrew, I think you're right, we do have the potential, who knows?" "Yeah" said Andrew. "In the meantime" said Andrew, lets just keep being what we are best, the best of friends" "Definitely" replied Amanda who continued "c'mon lets go eat, I'm starved" "me too, all that marching makes me hungry" replied Andrew.

After dinner the corps returned to the field house for the second drill session. The brass and battery would now be doing drill with instruments, sometimes playing but for the most part, it would be air and valves for the brass however the battery would play. Andrew put on his drum and moved to his opening spot. He watched Amanda walk by him with her bass drum and he thought to himself "she is so beautiful with her drum on". The Corps began to go through the drill and the room echoed with the sound of drums and the brass blowing air through their valves. Though it had already been hard without drums, drums on made it even harder and both Andrew and Amanda put their bodies to the test as they kept track of both music and drill.

After the final drill block ended, the corps went to bed for the night and next morning was back to business. The corps returned for more strenuous drill work and went through everything, going through the entire opener set to set. The corps was firing on all cylinders at this point and the corps was also beginning to play and move and as the music and drill came together, both Andrew and Amanda felt an adrenaline rush go through their bodies with each rep. The corps pushed on through lunch and then just before dismissal, went through a full run through with the pit. When the staff announced the run through, the corps let out a resounding cheer and immediately took their positions in the opening set of the opener. When everyone was set up, the corps was called to attention and then the drum major counted off. The pit started into the opening statement and the corps began to march. Amanda carefully counted her tacets as she marched and listened closely for the snares' opening statement as Andrew carefully played his first notes building to the opening hit. The opening hit came on quickly and the hornline attacked filling the field house with sound. The next minute and a half was for both Andrew and Amanda, the greatest moment of their lives as they had been dreaming of this for years and now there they were, marching and drumming with Phantom Regiment. Despite taking in the moment, it ended abruptly and soon all that was left inside the room in terms of sound was the dying sound of cymbals and gongs as well as applause from the staff congratulating the corps on a job well done. The corps came off the field after that, each member smiling from ear to ear about what they had accomplished, the show was really starting to transform and come alive. The staff was proud and it showed in the speech Rick Valenzuela gave to the corps at the end of rehearsal, "excellent job Phantom" he said, "you really did well with this camp and we can only get better from here so get ready for the next camp, there will be more drill and we will be outside on the field where we will really see this show come alive and I don't know about you but I can't wait to see it come alive." The corps gave its' resounding seal of approval with a round of applause and then Rick gave the final word and said "see you in a few weeks for drill camp number 2, you did great this weekend, keep pushing. Corps dismissed"

Soon after the speech, the corps was dismissed and after packing the truck and their things, Amanda and Andrew climbed aboard the bus and took their seats next to each other, as the bus began to drive off to the airport, Andrew and Amanda began to talk, mostly their conversation was about the weekend but then Amanda said, "Andrew, remember our talk on Saturday night?" "Yeah", said Andrew. "I was thinking about it for a while", said Amanda, "and came to the conclusion, why should we wait till tour to be together? We pretty much are together anyway and you know, we should just be boyfriend and girlfriend now, what do you say?" "Amanda" said Andrew, "I will gladly be your boyfriend, I love you." "I love you too" said Amanda, "and I will gladly be your girlfriend." The two embraced then and for the rest of the bus ride, just took in the moment with both of them realizing that they we're now each other's.


End file.
